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Whenever a big event happens I like to park myself on Twitter and read the live commentary. Imagine an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, with dozens of smart, funny riffers who serve up a LOL-funny line every minute and you've a good idea of what my Twitter feed is like during the State of the Union address or the premiere of Sharknado. The companies and organizations who have a presence on Twitter don't disappoint either. Some of them, most of them, do badly, but a few really shine on big Twitter nights.

We all develop bad habits, especially on our social media platforms where we are largely self-taught. Often, we don’t even know we’ve made a mistake until we see the results — reduced traffic to our site, the mentions column of our Twitter feed blown up like Michael Corleone’s car, an angry Facebook mob storming the comments.

Any social media expert worth their Twitter followers will tell you that you need to build a solid mailing list*. A well-built e-mail list is a ridiculously powerful tool you can use to build the sort of community you most desire.

In March, I reported on the first signs of new life from the National Republican Senatorial Committee after the disastrous 2012 election cycle, in which conservatives lost ground in the US Senate despite expectations of actually taking over that chamber of congress. Given the rise of new media and the stagnation of legacy media, the NRSC has taken the initiative to facilitate communications by creating a new blogger outreach position.

As Republicans were starting the 113th Congress, I offered them some unsolicited advice from my years in marketing. Noting the overwhelmingly pro-Obama bias of the mainstream media, I recommended they use a little messaging jujitsu. They could use the president’s rhetoric against him and win over a frustrated electorate at the same time.